Stanford men’s basketball: A vote for ‘Mad Dog’

Former Stanford star Mark Madsen, who led the Cardinal to the Final Four in 1998, is a candidate for the soon-to-be-vacant assistant coaching position on the Farm, a source close to the team told me. The job opened with the upcoming retirement of associate head coach Dick Davey.

Now, I presume there are many other candidates who, unlike Madsen, have considerable coaching experience. Madsen’s experience, as far as I know, was limited to an assistant’s stint in the NBA’s D League.

But here’s what he would bring to the table: First, he is loaded with energy. You don’t get the nickname “Mad Dog” for being placid on the court. Second, as a former Stanford player, he knows the ropes of balancing athletics and academics, something that many outsiders have trouble with when they join the Stanford staff. Third, he knows what it takes to reach the NBA, as almost all Stanford players and recruits would love to do. He played nine years in the NBA and was on the Lakers’ teams that won championships in 2001 and ’02. (Who can forget his awkward dance at the victory parade?) Fourth, his forte was the physical inside game, an area in which the Cardinal need help. Fifth, he already knows all the players, having accompanied them to Spain in September at the invitation of Coach Johnny Dawkins.

I haven’t talked to Mark about the job, but it sounds as if he’d like to try coaching as a profession. He’ll get his MBA at Stanford in June, but the coaching racket is full of people who were headed to the business world before being bitten by the coaching bug.

This guy is a walking inspirational lesson for other players. I hope Dawkins hires him rather than let him slip away to some other school that will come back and make Stanford pay for its error.